Bringing Seth Home
by jonsmom14
Summary: Sequel to "At Any Cost", Sandy goes to Portland to retrieve Seth while Kirsten remains at the hospital with Ryan. Part 2 of trilogy.


**A/N: By popular demand, this is the second part of the trilogy which started with "At Any Cost." You'll need to make sure you read that first. **

**Bringing Seth Home**

Seth came into the Ward's house with Luke right behind him. It had been a good day at the marina, and Seth was looking forward to a relaxing evening of video games and man food. The grill had become his new obsession. Anything that was grilled was good to him. It was with a sense of accomplishment that Seth lit the fires and tossed meat onto the rack in order to feed the men of the house – or at least that's how he felt about it.

Having the new passion of grilling helped to dim the thoughts of his best friend leaving him alone in the hell that was Newport or the fact that the love of his life wanted nothing to do with him and it was his fault. Nope, it was better to focus on the grill.

At least that was the thought running through his head until he came into the house and saw his luggage sitting next to the door. He looked up questioningly and saw his father come into the room.

"I'm not going home." Seth declared.

"I'm not arguing with you." Sandy countered.

With the wind effectively knocked out of his sails, Seth relaxed. "What are you doing here then?"

"I'm taking you home." Sandy replied calmly.

Seth glared at his father. "I thought you said you weren't going to argue with me."

Sandy smirked. "I'm not. There will be no arguments, but you better believe that we will be home by tonight."

"You can't make me come home with you." Seth argued.

"Actually I can." Sandy informed him. "But I don't think I'll have to. You're whole premise for leaving in the first place is now a moot point."

Seth's eyes lit up. "Ryan's home?"

Sandy winced. "He will be. Right now he's in the hospital."

"What?!" Seth shouted. "What happened?"

"Theresa didn't want Ryan to come up here to try to talk you into coming home. She slipped pain killers into his eggs so he would miss his flight." Sandy explained.

Seth looked at his father nervously. "Tell me they weren't codeine!"

Sandy stopped and stared at his son. "How did you know that Ryan was allergic to codeine?"

"I asked him when he came to live with us. It was part of my 'Get to Know My New Brother' game. One of the questions was 'are you allergic to anything'. I didn't want to give him a peanut butter sandwich and have him croak. That's when he told me about almost dying." Seth explained. "He said that he goes into respiratory arrest. Is he okay?"

"He will be." Sandy assured him, marveling at his son's brilliance when dealing with all things Ryan Atwood.

"How soon can we get there? I need to see him." Seth questioned anxiously.

"I have us booked on a flight that leaves in three hours." Sandy replied.

"Okay, can I call Mom and check on him?" Seth asked.

"Normally I would say yes, but she's with Ryan and her phone is probably turned off. You'll see him tonight." Sandy declined.

Seth sighed and sat down on the couch in the family room. He stared at the blank television. "I can't believe Ryan almost died, and I wasn't there for him." Seth moaned.

He looked up at his father, and Sandy was surprised to see the tears flowing down Seth's cheeks. "I've never had a friend until Ryan. He came to live with us and my whole life changed for the better. Suddenly you and Mom were home and actually being parents, people stopped harassing me at school and the most beautiful girl in the world wanted to go out with me. But all of that meant nothing without my brother by my side. Despite the fact that things were different when Ryan left, I couldn't bear the thought of getting up in the morning and not going out to the pool house to make plans with him. I hated to imagine going down to the pier without being able to hear his sarcastic rejoinders to my witty comments. Ryan was my partner in crime, my brother – and I couldn't handle staying where I had all those memories."

Sandy sat and stared at his son in shock. "Seth I had no idea."

Seth gave him a self-depreciating grin. "Bet you thought I was just pitching a temper tantrum huh?"

Sandy looked abashed.

"There was some truth to that thought, especially when you guys started calling; but if you had moved somewhere else I would have come home. I just couldn't bear seeing the ghost of Ryan everywhere. It terrifies me to think that we almost lost him for good." Seth confessed.

"I had to perform CPR to keep him alive long enough for the paramedics to come. He had stopped breathing. I was scared to death that he was going to die on that dumpy old couch with only me and a hysterical Theresa with him." Sandy stated out of the blue. "Then Theresa confessed to giving him the pills and for the second time in my life I felt like hitting a woman."

"When was the first time?" Seth asked.

Startled out of his reminiscing, Sandy looked up from the floor. "Huh?"

"Who was the first woman that you wanted to hit?"

Sandy grimaced. "Ryan's mother – Dawn."

Seth nodded and leaned back on the couch. "I can understand that. It's a wonder that Ryan is such a good guy, what with being raised by her."

Sandy smiled softly. "I remember the first time I met Ryan. I'm sitting at a table when the guards bring in this tough-as-nails kid. He gives me that sideways glare of his and then glances around like a frightened child as he sits down before resuming the glare. Then he asks about his brother. It was that moment when I realized I wasn't dealing with the run-of-the-mill criminal. Then I saw his test scores and started urging him to go to college and get a degree."

Sandy chuckled. "He stares straight at me and starts rattling off about this article he read that said the average life span was going to be 100, but this other article said that social security would run out by 2025 which means the average person won't be able to retire until they're 80. He said he didn't want to commit to anything too soon."

Seth laughed at that. He could just see his brother pulling out random facts to make his point.

Sandy sobered as he thought about the next part of the conversation. "Then I said that a smart kid like him had to have a dream."

"What did he say to that?" Seth prompted.

Sandy sighed and leaned back as well. "He said where he came from, having a dream didn't make you smart; knowing that it wouldn't come true did."

"Ouch." Seth breathed.

"Yeah, Ryan may not say a lot but what he says usually packs a wallop." Sandy agreed.

"I always wondered what made you give him your number when you had never done that before." Seth commented.

"Ryan was special, but it wasn't until Dawn came to pick him up that I gave him my card. She was either drunk or high or both. She pulled the car up on the sidewalk and started screaming about how Ryan wasn't worth anything. He just hunched his shoulders and took it. Then he looked up at me with desperation and I gave him the number. It was the best thing I've done since creating you." Sandy explained.

Seth grimaced. "Gross Dad! Too much information!"

Sandy chuckled and ruffled his son's hair.

"Dad! Hands off the jewfro!" Seth exclaimed, ducking away.

Sandy laughed and then sighed. "My point is this Seth, even though Ryan wasn't in Newport this summer it didn't diminish the good memories that he gave me. I will always have those no matter what. Instead of seeing that as a bad thing, I choose to enjoy them and be thankful for our time together."

Seth glanced over at his father. "I understand what you're trying to say." He admitted.

"Good." Sandy smiled. "Because you staying away was killing your mother, and she was killing me."

Seth smirked. "The Kirsten was on the warpath?"

"I believe that the current state of the house is an accurate description for the Cohen state of affairs this summer." Sandy confirmed.

Seth gave him a puzzled look. "What are you talking about?"

"You'll see when we get home." Sandy refused to explain. "Let's just say a picture is worth a thousand words."

Before Seth could argue for clarification, Sandy glanced down at his watch. "We need to call the cab if we're going to make our flight."

"I should say good-bye to Luke and Mr. Ward." Seth stated, standing up from the couch.

Sandy nodded and reached for his phone to call the taxi.

Kirsten was dozing in the chair next to Ryan's bed when the door opened to allow her oldest son and her husband into the room. Seth's eyes widened when he saw his brother. Ryan was so pale and with the oxygen mask, he looked more vulnerable than Seth had ever seen him.

Quietly, Seth crossed the room and stood next to Ryan's bed. The motion woke Kirsten. She opened her eyes to see her runaway son standing next to her.

"Seth?" Kirsten spoke up.

Seth smiled down at his mother. "Hi Mom," he replied softly.

"Seth!" Kirsten exclaimed as she shot out of her chair and wrapped her arms around her son in an exuberant hug.

Sandy stood by the door and smiled at the sight of his wife and son reuniting. He glanced over at the bed and saw that Ryan was awake. It was obvious he was happy to see Seth again, but there was a hint of longing in his gaze as he stared up at Kirsten and Seth. Sandy felt his heart break a little bit for his youngest son. He didn't know if Ryan would ever understand that he was truly a part of their family and just as much a son to him and Kirsten as Seth was. He knew that it would just take time.

"Hey Kid, how are you feeling?" Sandy asked as he approached the bed.

"Better now that Seth is home." Ryan said softly through his mask.

"It's good to see you too Bro." Seth greeted as Kirsten released him so he could greet his best friend.

Ryan smiled through the mask. "You okay?"

"Shouldn't I be asking you that?" Seth teased. "I'm not the one in the hospital hooked up to extra atmosphere."

"Funny." Ryan said softly.

"We've talked about this before Ryan, you're the brawn and I'm the comic relief. But I can understand why you could have forgotten. Hospital stays provide acceptable excuses for most everything." Seth joked.

Ryan smiled and closed his eyes in exhaustion.

"Go to sleep Man. I'll be here when you wake up." Seth assured him.

Ryan nodded and a moment later his breathing had evened out and he was asleep. Seth stood there watching the other teen breathe shallowly despite the assistance of the oxygen mask.

"Is he going to be okay?" Seth asked softly.

"Yes, it's just going to take some time." Sandy assured him.

Seth glanced over at his parents. "Are we going to be okay?"

Kirsten took his hand in hers and sighed. "That's going to take some time as well, but yes. We are going to be fine too."

Seth smiled tentatively and nodded. Yes, they would be alright. They were together again.

**TBC… Stay tuned for the final part of the trilogy "Bringing Ryan Home"…**


End file.
